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  1. #1
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    Default How much BM/Formula should a 4 month old get?

    DD is 4 months old and on the big side (16 lbs; 25 inches 90th percentile for both). Currently, I nurse her once in the morning when we get up. At daycare she has two 6 oz bottles (one breast milk, one formula) and one 4 oz bottle (breast milk). She has another 4 oz bottle (breast milk) when she gets home (DH picks her up). If she is still awake when I get home from work, I will nurse her again. She usually wakes once during the night between 2am and 4am to eat (we try just soothing her to sleep, but she insists on eating). At our 4 month check up, the pedi told us that we need to start weening her off of her middle of the night feeding and to do this, we should start feeding DD More in the day. Currently she is fed on demand. We have tried upping her 4 oz bottles to 6ozs, but she will always leave 1.5 to 2oz in the bottle.

    So here is my question (and thanks for reading all of this, I know it is long!): How much did your DC eat at this age? How would you get your DC to eat more during the day? In your experience, has giving your DC more food in the day made them less hungry at night?

  2. #2
    Katigre is offline Emerald level (3000+ posts)
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    I would absolutely not wean her from the middle of the night feeding at this point - to keep up your milk supply when not nursing during the day at least one night feeding is essential IME.
    Mom of 4: Boy (10), Girl (7), Boy (4), Girl (2)

  3. #3
    weech is offline Platinum level (1000+ posts)
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    My DS is a little over four months (15.5 pounds, 25 inches). He eats about 5 6oz bottles and usually 4oz overnight (EFF). We tried to cut out his middle of the night feeding because he slept through the night from 5 weeks to about 3 months, but he just wasn't having it. He eats a lot and has always had a pretty healthy appetite. Our ped said that it's totally normal for him to be waking up to eat once at night and that he'll stop when he's ready, so I'm cool with that. He goes back to sleep immediately, so it's not a huge deal for us at this point.

    Feeding him more during the day just would not work for us because 1) he already eats a lot and 2) if he doesn't want the extra formula, it's not like we can force him! He definitely knows how to say no.
    Rachel
    Momma to my sweet little bubba
    04/2010

  4. #4
    edurnemk is offline Diamond level (5000+ posts)
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    The only way I can think of is to slowly decrease the amount she has at night (either by cutting the nursing session short, or using a bottle and decreasing half an ounce every few days). However I personally feel your DD is too young for this. I'm really surprised your Ped said you need to wean her of that feeding. It's totally normal for BF babies to nurse at least once during the night until 6 months (and many continue past that point). Our Ped also said DS would stop nursing at night when he was ready. Many babies cannot go for more than 6-8 hours without feeding at that age.

  5. #5
    Join Date
    Feb 2010
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    Update: Last night, I heard her stirring around 10, but she wasn't fully awake. I picked her up, nursed her and put her back down to sleep (she was half awake). Then when she got up at 3am for her nightly feeding, I offered her a pacifier. She took it and went back to sleep. I'll have to see if this works again.

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